Midday Headlines (With Video!): Revamped West Plaza At 30th Street Opens Today

New week, new openings. Or rather, re-openings. Today, West Plaza at 30th Street Station is open to the public once more. From the $30 million Amtrak-funded project, drivers should expect to see more parking spaces; bikers, 100 additional bike racks; and everyone, new outdoor seating options.

Apart from those consumer-oriented changes, steel infrastructure renovations below the pedestrian plaza are also taking place.

From Urban Engineers:

Urban Engineers (Urban) is managing the rehabilitation of the street-level West Plaza, as well as the ongoing work on the basement-level parking garage. Additionally, Urban is overseeing a separate construction contract involving structural steel replacement and painting at the passenger platform level.

In others news…

• Newsworks tells us about a local artist who transformed a warehouse into an artist’s paradise and is now fighting the city over eminent domain

• Who will save the Boyd and the Royal? The Inquirer’s Inga Saffron sheds light on the declining desire to preserve two of the city’s historic theaters

• One Franklin Plaza is now on the market and prospective buyers are already eyeing it up, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal

• Despite its brewery and Jazzhaus no long in existence, Hidden City’s Bart Everts says Ortlieb’s lives on

•  The Press of Atlantic City reports on Heartwalk, the newest addition to Atlantic City’s boardwalk

• October saw existing-home sales dropping, yet rising by 6% compared to last year. More from LA Times’ Andrew Khouri.

• Natalie Kostelni from The Philadelphia Business Journal says a Front Street warehouse will become an attractive spot thanks to D3 developers

• Green building conference got a boost from keynote speaker Hillary Rodham Clinton, as reported by the Philadelphia Real Estate Blog

• Clinics in Northeast Philadelphia are no longer allowed? The Inquirer’s Troy Graham has the scoop on City Council’s new bill.

• A temporary save? Inga Saffron updates us on the historic Church of the Assumption: a no-longer valid demolition permit may have bought it some time